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The World Health Organisation also noted that a 'significant proportion of the samples' had tested positive for EV71.

The World Health Organisation said the mystery disease has affected children in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, as well as the Siem Reap province (pictured)

But it cautioned that the outbreak had not been fully solved, and more analysis was needed.

The WHO revealed last week how a number of children had been admitted to hospitals in the capital, Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap in the north, since April with high fevers and signs of encephalitic or respiratory symptoms, or both.

Most were under three years old, and all the children affected were under seven-years-old.

Some children with 'nodding disease' discovered three months ago are abandoned by their families because they are too difficult to look after

The mystery illness has swept through parts of Cambodia just three months after a separate disease which medics also struggled to identify, was found in east Africa.

The condition known by locals as the 'nodding disease', turned children into a zombie-like state across northern Uganda, Sudan and Tanzania.

The condition gets progressively worse and can cause affected children, generally aged between five and 15, to fall and injure themselves.

The UN agency said in a report on 30 June that the clinical signs 'appear unusual,' with patients suffering from fever and a rapid deterioration of respiratory functions, although platelet counts, liver and renal functions were found to be normal.

No other hospital patients or staff in Phnom Penh had fallen ill with similar symptoms, the report said.

Children suffering from the 'nodding disease' condition are withdrawn and have no interest in eating